1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure is related to a building toy. Specifically, it is directed to a log-style building toy comprising a plurality of interlocking rigid pieces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Building toys have always been very popular with children. The ability to construct structures and other items which can then be played with can provide for hours of entertainment. Further, building toys are often considered very educational. As opposed to simpler toys such as dolls, plush toys, or miniature cars where play is limited to using the toy in a fashion that comports with its real world counterpart, building toys can often be constructed into a near limitless array of items.
Today there are a wide variety of building toys on the market. The most well-known, and also most versatile, are brick toys such as the Lego™ Brick. This toy provides a huge array of different pieces and colors and has been used not just as a toy, but as a professional architecture, engineering, and robotics tool. However, it is merely one of many examples of toys which utilize the most modern manufacturing techniques and materials to make a toy with a huge number of uses.
One of the more venerable building toys are log-style building toys the most well-known of which is Lincoln Logs™ which are constructed of wood. While plastic pieces have, on occasion, been provided, Lincoln Logs™ which are designed for the building of toy log cabins and similar westward expansion themed buildings are now, and have for most of their existence, been made of wood. Log-style building toys are well established and in many respects a “classic” toy. Lincoln Logs™ have been inducted into the toy hall of fame and have been on sale for almost a century.
Log-style building toys provide for certain benefits over other types of building toys. Because they are commonly made of wood, they provide for a different, and often desirable, texture, heft, and structure compared to most other building toys which are made from plastic. This can be beneficial to expose children to different experiences and allow them to work with different materials. They also provide for much easier construction of certain types of period structures, and provide for a structure with resultant surface depths and transitions.
At the same time, wood is relatively limited in its connection ability. Most modern building toys which provide for interconnection between parts generally rely on the slight giveability and resilience of plastics to provide for a strong interconnection. Basically, these toys “snap” together by causing the plastic to slightly deform and reform as the pieces connect. This is a feature that wood generally does not have. Because of that, log-style building toys have traditionally had a very strong limitation in the types of things they can construct. Specifically, they can only interconnect by connecting one cut-out to another at right angles forcing them to make square structures. This arrangement is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,351,086, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, that indicates that structures are assembled by interconnecting corresponding notches of transversely laid logs.
The problem with this arrangement, it that it essentially allows only for interconnection at right angles and at corners. While the patent contemplates the use of very short logs to essentially “fill” in notches where there is no structural transverse piece, the construction is very limited. This can be frustrating to children where a set of log-style building toys can really only be used to build a relatively specific building or set of buildings, and those buildings often lack the desired features that a child wants (such as a window in a particular position). Most children expect building toys to have a wide degree of flexibility. Those that lack flexibility are often rapidly discarded.
Log-style building toys also have problems in that the structures they build necessarily have gaps that would not exist in an actual building of log construction and lack certain important components. Roofs are generally simply laid on and often collapse with just minimal play. Many structures formed of these building toys are relatively unstable, and collapse if played with as toy structures. Further, floors and interior details are generally very complicated or impossible to build. Instead, interior details are usually provided more in the form of doll house furniture as preconstructed elements.
While the lack of flexibility can be frustrating for children, it has also resulted in log-style building toys being of little use for adult entertainment. Many Older adults, particularly those with degenerative neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, can be entertained, and interacted with, through play because it is such a fundamental human action. Further, many older adults are comforted by textures of toys that are more akin to what they grew up with, not more modern plastics. One would think, therefore, that log-style building toys would be a valuable toy for use with adults. However, the lack of flexibility of existing log-style building toys can often make it too simple of a toy for these types of adults who have no interest in building in accordance with a plan or picture, but wish to express themselves creatively.